Monday, December 11, 2006

Christmas Limas

Happy Holidays! Shmoo's final lunchbox before winter vacation features some very merry Christmas Limas with Chestnuts and Brussels Sprouts. Christmas Lima Beans pair beautifully with the traditional mix of sweet chestnuts and Brussels Sprouts. The Brussels sprouts are finely shredded and almost disappear into the dish -- a nice way to get sneaky with those sprouts if your family doesn't take to them whole.

Below the Christmas Limas is a bit of wholewheat roll and a Peppermint Candy Tart (I veganized the recipe by substituting 3 tablespoons soft silken tofu for the egg, and Earth Balance and soymilk for the butter and milk).

Speaking of peppermints, I trimmed some radishes to look like peppermints and packed them with a bit of Vegenaise mixed with lemon and dill for dipping. Finally, sliced starfruit and fresh pomegranate seeds look very festive together.Verdict: The sweet lima beans were a big hit -- a great dish to bring to a holiday dinner or potluck. The tarts tasted like sugar cookies topped with peppermint frosting -- yum! The pomegranate seeds stained the starfruit a bit in the lunchbox, but what a lovely combination it made, all the same. 4 ho-ho-hos!

35 comments:

When I first looked at the lunch box I saw the radishes and thought they were candy, then I started reading and got to the part about the Peppermint Candy Tart. I thought, she doesn't usually put two desserts in his lunch. Of course I kept reading. I think I will have to do that to some radishes, it is very clever.

This main dish sounds wonderful- I love brussels! I have a couple Qs about ingredients, though:1.) Would the chestnuts I see packed in jars with some kind of liquid work for this dish, if I drain them? I've never used them before.2.) I've never noticed "Christmas Lima Beans" at the grocery store. Do you get them someplace special, or do I just need to look a little harder?Happy Holidays, Schmoo Family!

nice! I love the radishes...I thought they were candy too and was going to try and find the recipe. I just received your cookbook(s), and can't wait to start using mine. I'm sending one copy to my brother and another to my cousin, for xmas, both of whom have young (non veg) kids. Not sure if the kids will see it as a gift to them, since it isn't a train set, but maybe in the long run...thanks again.

At this point I think he'd eat cardboard if I packed it with Vegenaise for dipping.

>>What do you and shmoo think of starfruit?

I think they're worth getting at times just for the look of them, mixed with other fruit. Shmoo didn't like the first one we tried -- it was very tart. This one was sweeter, and shmoo liked it very much.

Love Love Love the book. Amazing to have it all the way over here in Australia. So excited to get in and get my hands dirty to make some whole nutritious vegan food for my one year old. I hope by the time she's at school she'll be excited like your little schmoo is by her lunch boxes.

I love the idea of shredding the Brussels sprouts to "hide" them. Even I can sometimes be picky about some veggies--and I'm 22! The radishes are so cute--they really do look like peppermints! I have to try that.

Cut them in half vertically, toss in just the BARE MINIMUM of olive oil (otherwise they will be a yucky mess) and roast them in a large pan-- large enough that they don't touch each other--- at about 425 degrees until they just begin to turn slightly brown on the edges (close to an hour or so). Sprinkle a little salt. Prepare to taste something totally unlike any brussels sprouts your mouth has ever known. They become sweet. And heavening.

I have a very good idea that I'll be receiving the cookbook for the holidays (yeah!) and you may say something about this there but...

In "converting" traditional recipes does silken tofu usually work in place of egg? Might that even work for cookies?

Myra Kornfeld, who wrote vulumptious vegan, my favorite cookbook- just came out with The Healthy Hedonist and she mentions at one point in that second book that coconut butter generally works in place of butter.

>>In "converting" traditional recipes does silken tofu usually work in place of egg? Might that even work for cookies?

Yes, I find a few tablespoons of silken tofu work very well as an egg replacer in cookies and such. A tablespoon of ground flaxseeds whirred up with some water make a good egg substitute as well. Check out this page on vegan baking at the Post Punk Kitchen for more egg sub tips:

Andrea Baker-yes, coconut oil is a good substitute for butter. It is solid and room temp and although it is technically a saturated fat, our bodies process it as unsaturated fat. The book Everyday Vegan by Jeanie Rose-Atchinson utilizes coconut oil in several recipes including a vegan butter recipe.

About the Myra Kornfeld's Healthy Hedonist--is this a cookbook, health book or both?

Sorry it has taken me a bit to respond. And thank you Jennifer for the Post Punk Kitchen link!

The Healthy Hedonist is a cookbook for the "flexitarian" diet- people who (mostly) identify as vegetarians but eat a limited bit of organic eggs/dairy and a bit of fish/poultry. I admire that sort of diet- it seems very reasonable- but am a long-time steadfast vegan myself. The cookbook is more than worth its cover price for the butternut squash soup recipe alone (which is vegan) and so tasty that my son calls it "pudding."

I refused to eat brussels sprouts my entire life until I found this method of preparation in a veg magazine: I cut the brussels sprouts in half and roast them along with cauliflower in a little coconut oil and sea salt. This is amazingly yummy, and organic coconut oil is part of a vegan detox diet on which I thrived for about a month recently, losing around ten pounds without trying (which is just a side benefit, of course)--surprisingly good for you.

Just got laptop lunchboxes for my entire family for Christmas--thanks for the inspiration!

Had the produce guy at a market in FL (while i was vacationing down there a few yrs ago) tell me there are two types of starfruit commonly seen in US produce sections. One is tart, one is sweet. When asked how to tell the difference, he said rule of thumb is to look at the skin between one of the point termini and the core termini, if it's flat, most likely the fruit is tart; if it bows outward, its most likely "sweet" and the more the outward bow, the sweeter the fruit. So far, (knock on wood) that simple trick has proven about 95% accurate for the carombolas that show up, up here in WV.